Uprising (Alternate Earth Series, Book 2)

by S. J. West

  “We will,” she replies with a reassuring smile.

  When we phase into the courtyard of the temple, I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the mountain range surrounding the place of worship. A thin layer of white clouds slightly obscures the view, but they lend the scene a mystical quality. On either end of the compound are two buildings, which are in perfect symmetry with one another. Each is composed of two levels, the top one slightly smaller than the one below it. The black ceramic tiled roofs have sweeping curvatures that rise at the corners. The buildings themselves are composed of wooden frames painted red. There are two parallel, covered walkways enclosing the courtyard. Straight ahead of me, built behind the temple at the very top of the mountain, are two gold pavilions with the same architecture as the temples, but smaller in size.

  “If you’ll all follow me,” Daniel says, taking a step towards the temple straight ahead of me, “I can take you to Jai Lin. She’s tending to some of the monks who were infected.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?” Malcolm asks. “We don’t even know yet if the infection can be passed from one person to another.”

  Daniel sighs heavily. “I know. I tried to dissuade her from taking care of the sick, but she’s as stubborn as she is beautiful. She refuses to take my advice.”

  We all follow Daniel into the temple, and find ten men lying in a row against the far wall of the structure. They’re all lying on thin pallets, with thick, black wool blankets covering them from the chest down. Even though the temperature is comfortably warm, the men are visibly shivering underneath their blankets. I’m immediately able to spot Jai Lin.

  She’s kneeling beside one of the monks in the middle of the row, holding his hand and rubbing it between her palms, as if she’s attempting to warm it up. I can hear them speaking to one another in low voices, but they’re speaking in Chinese so I wouldn’t be able to understand what is being said anyway. Though, from the sweet tone of Jai Lin’s voice, I assume she’s attempting to bring the monk some comfort. Two other women are doing the same thing on either end of the line of monks, while a third stands next to a small table against the east wall, folding up blankets.

  “Jai Lin,” Daniel calls out softly to gain her attention.

  Jai Lin turns her head in our direction, acknowledging our presence. She returns her attention to the monk, and says something to him before standing and leaving his side.

  “Xiulan,” Jai Lin says to the woman by the table. The woman turns slightly to face her empress. Her long black hair conceals her face from my view. “Would you please take my place for a while?”

  The woman nods her head and says, “Of course.” She lays the blanket in her hands on the table before fully turning around to walk down the line of monks, to where Jai Lin is.

  I feel Leah firmly grab hold of my wrist. When I look at her face, I see that it’s turned ashen. Leah’s eyes are wide with shock, her lips are parted, and she’s breathing quicker than usual as she stares directly at the woman named Xiulan.

  “What’s wrong?” I urgently whisper to her.

  Leah drags her eyes away from the woman walking up to Jai Lin. When they meet mine, she says in a whisper, “That’s my mother.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Without saying another word, Leah turns around and walks out of the temple.

  “I’ll be right back,” I tell Mason, promptly following my little sister.

  I find Leah standing in the middle of the courtyard, gripping her staff tightly as she leans on its strength to catch her breath. I walk around to stand in front of her, and patiently wait until she’s ready to talk.

  I don’t know a lot about Leah’s biological mother. All I know is that she came through the tear from our Earth while she was pregnant with Leah, and left Leah in the safe care of Remy after she was born. As far as I was aware, no one knew where she ended up. When we retrieved Leah’s Archangel crown back on our Earth, we discovered that Leah’s mother was a prostitute who fell in love with one of her clients. The man didn’t want a relationship with Leah’s mother, but she was already pregnant by the time he stopped coming to see her. That was as far as my knowledge of her mother went.

  After a few minutes, Leah looks up at me with a pained expression, like someone just hit her hard in the gut.

  “I never thought I would see her here,” Leah tells me. “The possibility never even occurred to me, Jess.”

  “Are you sure it’s her?” I ask, not understanding how Leah can be so positive the woman we just saw is her mother. “You were only a baby when she left you. How can you recognize her?”

  “I, uh,” Leah says hesitatingly, averting her gaze, “I asked Josh to find all the information he could about her a while back. I know I shouldn’t have used the Watcher Agency resources to do something like that, but I had to know, Jess. I had to know more about my mother. He found a picture of her for me. Somehow, she was able to obtain a green card to work in the United States. We suspected the madam at the whorehouse she worked at was able to get her one, even though she was in the country illegally. It’s her, Jess. I’m positive.”

  “Ok,” I say, trying to think through what to do next. “Do you want to go back to the castle? You don’t have to face her if you don’t want to. She hasn’t exactly earned that right, if you ask me.”

  Leah slowly shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do, to be honest. Like I said, I never thought I would see her again. She’s always been a part of my past. I thought that was where she would stay.”

  “She can, if that’s what you want,” I say, knowing how hard it can be to face a mother you thought abandoned you. With God’s help, I was able to speak with my own mother, even though she died from a drug overdose not long after she left me. “But I want you to seriously consider the consequences of doing that. This might be your only opportunity to get some closure where she’s concerned. You’ve had to live with the mystery of why she left, practically since the moment you were born. This is your opportunity to learn her side of the story. I don’t want to see you lose this chance to find the answers you’ve been searching for all this time. And… maybe this is one of the reasons you were sent back here. I seriously doubt it’s just a coincidence that she’s been brought back into your life at this particular moment, Leah. This has to be God’s way of answering one of your prayers.”

  As tears begin to well in Leah’s eyes, I wrap my arms around her and bring her in close so she can borrow some of my strength and cry out her heartache on my shoulder. I can only imagine how Leah is feeling. I’m sure she feels a sense of relief that her mother is still alive, but I also have to assume she’s feeling betrayed, angry, and sad, knowing her mother chose to stay here on alternate Earth. God told me that the Tear only took people who wanted to escape the lives they were living. Apparently, Leah’s mother never wanted to leave this Earth once she came here. Otherwise, she could have traveled through the Tear when it opened each year. Did she want to stay here, in the hopes of being reunited with Leah one day? Or, did she simply view this alternate reality as a new beginning for her? Is that the reason she abandoned Leah after she gave birth to her? Did she believe Leah would hinder her ability to have a new life, by chaining her to a past she wanted to leave behind?

  I didn’t have any answers to those questions. Only Leah’s mother would be able to give them to her.

  When Leah stops crying, she pulls away from me slightly, but not enough to leave the circle of my arms. I stand there in the silence with her, allowing her time to pull herself together. I’m confident she will, because she’s stronger than even she knows.

  “How do I tell her who I am?” Leah asks me.

  “I have a feeling that you won’t have to,” I answer. “She may have left you when you were a baby, but that doesn’t mean she won’t recognize you when she sees you.”

  “I can’t leave without knowing why she left me, Jess,” Leah says with a newfound sense of determination. “You’re right. This isn’t a coincidence. I think God is finally givi
ng me a chance to close this part of my life before I start a family of my own.”

  Leah’s choice of words brings me up short.

  “Are you pregnant?” I ask bluntly.

  Despite the tears, Leah begins to laugh.

  “Unless it’s an immaculate conception,” Leah answers, “no. I shouldn’t be. Josh said he wanted to wait until after we were married before we made love.”

  Finding this self-imposed celibacy odd for a red-blooded American boy in his prime, I have to ask, “Did he say why?”

  “After seeing Aiden wait so long for Caylin, I think he wants to prove that his love for me is just as strong. Either that, or he thinks Malcolm might kill him if he tries any funny business.”

  “Ah. I bet it’s a little bit of both,” I say, which makes Leah giggle even more.

  “Could be,” she agrees, “but the closer I get to the next stage in my life, the more I wonder if I’ll end up doing what my mother did.”

  “You are not your mother, Leah. Your life is completely different from the one she lived.”

  “I know,” Leah says, even though I hear doubt in her voice, “but could I become like her? Am I capable of abandoning my family when things get rough?”

  “Talk to her,” I urge, seeing just how deep-rooted Leah’s fears are. “Find out why she left. Maybe her answer will surprise you, or maybe it won’t. Either way, you need to know the truth for your own peace of mind.”

  “Will you stay with me when I do?” Leah almost begs. “I don’t know if I can face what she has to say, alone.”

  “I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” I say, giving her a tight hug to reaffirm my words. “I’ll stay glued to your side until you peel me off, little sis.”

  “Thank you,” Leah replies, hugging me back just as fiercely.

  I take Leah’s hand as we walk side-by-side back into the temple. When we re-enter it, I see that Rafe is attempting to heal one of the unattended monks. Nina is standing beside him, acting as his bodyguard. Everyone else is where we left them, and speaking in hushed tones with Jai Lin. Leah’s mother, who Jai Lin addressed as Xiulan, is attending to the monk the empress had to leave when we first entered the temple.

  “Everything all right?” Mason asks me when I return to his side.

  “It will be,” I reassure him. “Is Rafe having any luck?”

  Mason shakes his head in disappointment. “Not so far. He’s already tried to heal two monks, but there hasn’t been any change in their conditions. Rafe said he was going to try to heal all of them on the off chance that length of exposure plays a role. I don’t have the heart to tell him I think he’s wasting his time. If his form of healing was going to work, it would have affected the first monk he tried to cure.”

  “Then it’s best to just let him try so he doesn’t think he missed something,” I say. “I don’t want him to leave here having any doubts that he didn’t try everything he could.”

  “Brand says that you might have a way to destroy the birds that are attacking my people,” Jai Lin says to me, sounding cautiously optimistic. “Something about fire.”

  I nod. “Yes, Leah’s power involves an intensely hot fire. It’s possible that she can burn the flocks out of the sky.”

  Jai Lin looks at Leah with a worried frown.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

  “I know you have seen one of the flocks on TV,” Jai Lin says, “but seeing them in person is quite terrifying. Are you sure you’re prepared to face them on your own?” Jai Lin asks Leah directly. “I am not one to scare easily, but the flock I saw made me tremble in fear, and I wasn’t antagonizing them like you will be.”

  “I’ve faced bad situations before,” Leah reassures the empress. “They might frighten me, but I won’t shrink away from them. I’ll do what needs to be done.”

  Jai Lin’s worry slowly begins to fade, and she nods her head. “I can see that you will.”

  “Empress,” a woman says behind us. When I turn, I see that it’s Leah’s mother. “Would you like me to…?”

  Xiulan immediately stops talking as soon as she sees Leah. She simply stands there and stares at Leah without saying a word, almost like a spell has been cast over her, paralyzing her from head to toe.

  “Xiulan?” Jai Lin says with concern, trying to draw the other woman’s attention. “Xiulan, what’s wrong?”

  Jai Lin’s question seems to break through Xiulan’s stupor, bringing her back from wherever her thoughts just took her. Before we know it, Xiulan has fallen to her knees in front of Leah with her head bowed, repeatedly saying a word in Chinese that I don’t understand.

  “Why is she asking you for forgiveness?” Jai Lin asks Leah, puzzled by Xiulan’s reaction.

  “Because she’s my mother,” Leah answers before bending down on one knee and gently cupping one side of her mother’s face.

  “Mother?” Mason asks, just as shocked as everyone else to hear the news.

  Xiulan looks up at her daughter, with tears streaming down her face.

  “I never thought I would see you again,” she tells Leah as she lifts a trembling hand to cradle Leah’s hand. “I gave up hope that I would.”

  Leah helps her mother rise to her feet while asking, “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

  Xiulan looks to Jai Lin, as if she’s silently asking for the empress’ permission to leave.

  “Why don’t you take her to the Jin Dian pavilion?” Jai Lin suggests encouragingly. “No one will disturb you there.”

  Xiulan bows her head in Jai Lin’s direction before turning her attention back to Leah.

  “Please, follow me,” Xiulan says to her daughter as she begins to walk out of the temple.

  Leah looks over at me. “I need you,” she says.

  “I know,” I tell her, taking her hand so we can follow her mother out of the temple.

  As we walk across the courtyard, Xiulan only looks back once to make sure Leah is following her. When she does, she notices me, but doesn’t miss a step. If I were to place myself in her shoes, I would want my estranged daughter to do whatever was necessary to make herself feel safe. Xiulan is a stranger to me, and I didn’t want Leah to face her alone anyway. In fact, I’m sure if Leah hadn’t invited me along on this little family reunion, I would have ended up inviting myself.

  Once we reach the gold pavilion Jai Lin referred to as ‘Jin Dian’, Xiulan opens the door for us so we can step inside. The walls are mostly made of glass, giving us a clear view of the surrounding mountain range. The rays of the sun bring warmth into the space as we stand together, staring at one another. None of us seems to know what to say to break the tension. I don’t feel as though it’s my place to say much of anything. I’m simply here for moral support, and to whisk Leah away if the situation becomes more than she can handle.

  “I must apologize,” Leah’s mother says to her. “I don’t even know what name Remy gave to you.”

  “Leah.”

  “It is a beautiful name for a beautiful young woman,” Xiulan says, looking sad yet proud of a daughter she herself did not raise.

  “I always thought your first name was Grace,” Leah admits.

  “I picked that name when I went to America,” Xiulan explains. “My name means ‘graceful orchid’ in Chinese. I decided ‘Grace’ would be a good name to start a new life with.”

  “What happened?” Leah asks, the pleading quality to her voice demonstrating how much she wanted to better understand her mother.

  “I chose the wrong path,” Xiulan says with open honesty. “When I first arrived in America, I worked as a waitress in a restaurant, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to live the dream and find a rich American husband to take care of me, but a woman named Terry found me first. She had dinner in the restaurant I was working in, and offered me a job in her establishment.”

  “Did you know she ran a whorehouse when she offered you the job?” Leah asks, not being judgmental, just curious.

  Xiulan barely blinks a
t Leah’s question before answering, “Yes. I understood what she was asking me to do. Terry did not try to hide that fact from me. She offered me a great deal of money to become one of her girls. At the time, I was very poor and didn’t have a home to call my own. She offered me a clean place to live and food to eat every day. I might not have liked what I was doing, but I felt blessed to have someone like her offer to take care of all my needs. I am not proud of what I did for a living, but it gave me hope that I could have the life I wanted one day, and kept me alive during a time I thought I would rather be dead. I make no excuses for my past actions. I did what I thought I needed to do. And, when I met your father,” Xiulan says with a melancholy smile, “I thought I had met my Edward Lewis.”

  “Edward Lewis?” Leah asks looking confused. “Is that my father’s name?”

  Xiulan smiles. “No.”

  “I think she’s referring to the movie Pretty Woman,” I fill in for Leah.

  “Oh,” Leah replies, recognizing the title. “I haven’t seen that movie yet.”

  “It was about a call girl who found her prince charming in a client,” I inform her, feeling like one of my favorite movies might have actually been a little on the pervy side.

  “It was an unrealistic expectation,” Xiulan says to us. “Stories like that only belong in the movies. The reality of my situation was never going to lead to a fairytale life. After I became pregnant with you, your father didn’t want to have anything to do with me. Remy was working at the brothel back then, doing odd jobs, and I felt like he was the only one who truly cared for me. I was surprised when he came through the Tear with us, but I was extremely grateful to have him by my side once we arrived here.”

  “And, after I was born,” Leah says, preparing herself for one of the most important questions of her life, “why did you leave me?”

  Xiulan’s eyes tear up but she swallows hard, fighting them back to give her daughter the answer she deserves.